I used to live in an apartment then decided to buy a house for reasons such as wanting to have a yard / outdoor space (wanted to buy a big dog among others), leave city life for suburban life for peace & quiet, family-proof (place where I’d want hypothetical kids to grow up in), etc. After experiencing both I prefer house over apartment.
House because landlords are shittier than contractors on average. I want to own where I live and if someone is being a piece of shit I am free to fire them on the spot.
Also, I want space for my family and a garden.
Location is the most iportant, meaning that the realistic option is appartment
-
Can get fresh breakfast on the week-end with a 5 minutes walk, and do not need to plan a weekly grocery trip when I have everything down the stairs
-
Do not need to drive home if I get a drink
-
Have access to tons of activities within a reasonable distance, no matter whether I want to learn Korean, watch stand-up comedy or listen to underground heavy metal
-
Kids can quickly get some autonomy compared to suburb where road are full of cars and parents need a car to go every where.
-
I actually love apartments, but nice big ones. I love having a gym and pool that I don’t have to personally maintain, I love being up high and having a good view and a nice breeze on the balcony, and being walking distance to the metro. A detached house obviously beats the pants off a small, dark, poorly ventilated apartment with no amenities, which is probably why they cost 10X as much.
House.
I want to play music at a reasonable volume and not worry that I’m bothering someone. I also never want to hear my neighbors’ music.
I’m beginning to consider the idea of having an apartment but then also a plot of land with just a shed or cottage. Something like that. I’d like to spend more time outside in most of the year but also keep the convenience of an apartment during winter. I have a house in a good location now, so it’ll probably not happen unless something drastic happens. Maybe when the kids move out.
Condo plus class B RV.
When in China I love a nice big apartment because that’s what most families have access to especially if you want to live downtown. Countryside houses are nice but I prefer being able to just go out and do what I want. That said, I recently was walking around the countryside with my child and it is quite nice. Only 5 drive to small city and 20 to big city.
In America I 100% prefer a big house. I’ve lived in all of the above and since most American cities suck imo I would prefer to have my own land and space. Really makes me miss living in eastern piedmont with beautiful mountain views every time you get up.
In Japan I would also want a house! Best of both worlds were you can have your own big house and live downtown. You might not have much of a yard though. My dream would be this would a backyard big enough to play with the family, grill, and hang laundry.
In descending order:
-
House in the city
-
Apartment in the city
-
Cabin in the mountains
-
Homeless in the city
-
Homeless in the mountains
-
Japanese-style coffin capsule
♾️. Anything in suburbia
Even countyside europe is better than suburbia, atleast there you have nature around you constantly!
-
Apartment, but only because I can’t stand the thought of investing* in something that’s stuck in one location forever.
My dream dwelling would be a houseboat. I get the benefits of owning my dwelling but retain the ability to physically relocate it.
*As if I could even afford that lol. I doubt I’m even gonna live long enough to afford a houseboat ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
House would be nice, but detached houses in my neighborhood are currently selling for 3-4 million, so I’ll stay in my nice affordable apartment.
Damn, US? I paid ~70 million Thai baht for my house and that’s considered A LOT of money here.
I can’t share my walls with people. I lived in a townhouse once. It was awful. Train tracks 10’ out the back door, constantly smelling what my neighbors are cooking or smoking, and got my car broken into at least twice and the pile who did it bragged in my face about it.
Fucking people. What a bunch of bastards.
Depends on the location. House in a European-style suburb (grid streets, mixed-use zoning, good public transit) over apartment, but anything in an American-style suburb (long, winding streets, car-centric, Euclidean zoning) is an instant deal breaker.
A house is usually more confortable indeed but I do think it depends on your needs and where you’re going to live. An apartment can be a bit safer, have a less expesive maintenance and be more practical overall, also HOA can be a very annoying addition to a house. On the other hand if you have kids or pets an apartment will give you headaches with noise complaints and lack of space
I 110% agree with the safety. The house I bought is in a residential community really well guarded & this aspect was a major deciding factor as a public figure (a lot of other industry colleagues live here). The security in the apartment complex is top notch.
Definitely house, preferably owned. I rented my previous apartment and had to run a lot of jobs through the landlord. Now, if something goes wrong or if I want to hang something with screws, I can just go ahead. And I love having a back yard. Front yard meh, just work, no joy.
Downside is that my house is not exactly well maintained and it was built in the sixties. So I’ll need to invest in some stuff in the next 5 to 10 years.
For me the downside is that it feels a bit empty at times. In hindsight I went a bit overboard, given it’s just girlfriend & me + pets. For that reason I like having my family & friends stay over often. Apartment felt more compact.
Ah well my house is not that big. It’s my wife and me and three cats but we have rather large furniture so it kinda feels cramped.
House because you can grow more indo in a basement than a spare bedroom
Apartment, dacha, lada. Benefits of all.